Mad scientist brings magic of learning to Swansea Mall

All Mad Science shows begin with a magic trick but they are not magic shows.

Marc Munroe Dion Herald News Staff Reporter

SWANSEA — If you think you don’t like science then you must not like soda or the sound of a car engine revving or even the science that makes video games possible.

Kids who wanted to learn hands on science had a pretty good shot Thursday at the Swansea Mall at 1 p.m.

The mad scientist of the day was “Magnetic” Meredith Labove, sent to the Swansea Mall with her bag of scientific tricks by a company called “Mad Science” that does science shows at malls, birthday parties, wherever there is an audience of kids with a scientific interest.

“I’m a mad scientist,” Labnove told a crowd of some 50 parents and kids Thursday at the Swansea Mall’s center court. “Do I look mad? I’m not mad at you.”

And indeed she wasn’t. In her lab coat and bright smile, Labove is the ambassador of happy science.

“Walk this way,” she told one of her audience volunteers, then took off across the stage in an exaggerated stomping slouch.

“You’re not walking like this,” she jokingly hollered at the kid.

All Mad Science shows begin with a magic trick but they are not magic shows. In fact, the trick presented, a card trick which caused a chosen card to burst into flame, was quickly revealed to be a triumph of science as Labove explained what chemically treated paper can do.

And safety was given its due, too.

“What do you do with a lighter?”

Labove coached the kids until they answered that question with a roared, “Nothing!”

A little safety. A little Schtick. A lot of science.

According to its web site, Mad Science uses a technique of inquiry-based education with a mix of entertainment and hands-on activities to help children learn by doing experiments.

A Mad Scientist conducts the show, which lasts for 45 minutes to an hour.

During each show, the Mad Scientist asks the kids questions about the science on display and gets audience members to volunteer to help the Mad Scientist.

On Thursday, the not-mad-at-you scientist showed kids how to fit an egg into an impossibly small space, and float a beach ball 15 feet over everyone’s head, not with magic, but with science.

The shows are aimed at kindergarten age through sixth-graders, but older or younger kids liked the fun and the science, too.